Smalerie Reads Christmas Comics: The Return
While it's very possible that I'm the only one getting a kick out of these seasonal comic creations, this year I decided to revisit the ghosts of blog posts past and share some more holiday themed comics with you all.
The Last Christmas - Story by Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn, Art by Rick Remender
The Plot - After tragically losing someone he loves, a vengeful Santa travels down from the North Pole in an attempt to end Christmas forever.
Readability - *sigh *SIGH Before I get into anything to serious here, a quick disclaimer. If you want me to be predisposed to hating your book, by all means...please spend two introductions telling me how messed and and crazy the story I'm about to read is. Yup, that's right, it's so insane that my simple reader brain just can't handle it! Because no one ever has ever done anything like this EVER so I better go ahead and brace myself to read some pretty messed up stuff. Ugh.... I think I just strained my eyes from rolling them too hard. Look, I get that you're going for a certain kind of thing here, but there is such a thing as trying too hard to convince a reader of what you're trying to do without giving them a chance to get into the book and judge the material themselves. The cover and description have already given me a hint at what I'm in for. You don't need to shove it down my throat.
That being said, Duggan and Posehn are best known for their work on Deadpool and I feel as if that speaks a lot for what you're going to find in this book. If you are into comics that are fast paced, filled with over the top violence, and contain visual gags about saggy old lady elf boobs- there's a good chance this is something you're going to be happy to spend your money on. I will admit that the premise is an interesting one, regardless of how it's ultimately handled. And despite my best intentions, there were times when I did chuckle at some of the jokes. I don't mourn the loss of time it took me to read this one, but it isn't something I'll want to return to or recommend to many friends.
DC Rebirth Holiday Special - Various
Plot - A compilation of holiday stories starring popular DC characters
Readability - The more I read mainstream comics and do these holiday comics posts, the more I enjoy these kind of books. I'm starting to look forward to that feeling you get when you turn the page to find something you didn't expect from a creator you really enjoy. Overall, I would say that the proportion of quality stories outweigh the more sappy or heavy-handed ones. If you must have your holiday comics fix, you could do a lot worse. Besides, how many times are you going to get to read a story with a Batman and Detective Chimp team-up? If the answer is, a lot - PLEASE tell me where I can find more.
Gwenpool Holiday Special (2015) - Written by Charles Soule, Gerry Duggan, Christopher Hastings
Plot - She-Hulk throws a Holiday Party and a slew of Marvel Universe heroes are invited.
Readability - Surprisingly high for a Gwenpool book. Gwenpool herself is not a character I actively search out as I'm not entirely sure why she exists. So we can read a cutesy watered-down version of Deadpool? I dunno. Essentially another compilation book, this one uses She-Hulks party as a way of linking all the stories together. I think this works quite well because it allows the reader to see what the characters were up to before getting to the party. Yes, it's still cheesy and overly convenient at times, but who cares when you're having such a good time? Oh, and don't forget to check out the backgrounds during the scenes at the party itself. There's a lot of familiar faces in there.
Do you have any holiday themed comics you'd like to recommend to the masses? Let us know in the comments!